(Photo: Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC/Handout via REUTERS/Third party image/Processed by Reuters to enhance quality/Mandatory credit/File Photo)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has started carrying out blood tests that it says will help decide if a person has contracted the coronavirus, even without exhibiting any symptoms, a CDC spokesman disclosed.
These serological examinations, or sero-surveys, vary from the nose swabs used in diagnosing active cases of the virus. Through these blood trials, health experts would be able to determine if a person has developed some antibodies in the blood, meaning that they have been exposed to the virus and recovered.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved its first emergency usage permission to administer an antibody blood test. The agency then said that the test, made by Cellex, may effectively diagnose Covid-19 cases, and its possible benefits outweigh the risks.
Traditionally, pre-market approval devices are expected to demonstrate proof that they are "secure and successful." Knowing how many people with coronavirus may not get sick is a key to gaining a deeper understanding of how the coronavirus is acting and how the epidemic in the U.S. has unfolded.
Joe Bresee, the CDC's deputy incident manager for the pandemic response, said the agency aims to fill out the portion of cases that have evaded detection through three related studies.
The first, which has already begun, would look at blood samples from people never diagnosed as a case in some of the Covid-19 hot spots in the country, to see how prevalent the virus was circulating. Later, a nationwide survey will be performed, using samples from various parts of the world.
A third will look at vulnerable populations - a top priority for health care professionals - to see how far the virus has spread within them. Bresee said the CDC hopes to begin the national survey in the summer; he did not provide timeline for the medical researchers' study.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said that, according to The New York Times, an experimental coronavirus vaccine is ready for clinical trials as soon as it receives approval from the FDA.
According to the source, mice that were injected with the vaccine were developing antibodies against the new coronavirus. Clinical clinical trials will normally take a year, but the process can be fast-tracked, Dr. Louis D. Falo, a member of the university research team, claimed.
"We are only beginning to do research and we will report on it as soon as possible," Bresee said, adding that researchers think the serum experiments will be very important in finding out "what the real amount of infection is out there."
